Background and Purpose-Loss of motor function is common after stroke and leads to significant chronic disability. Stem cells are capable of self-renewal and of differentiating into multiple cell types, including neurones, glia, and vascular cells. We assessed the safety of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) after stroke and its effect on circulating CD34ϩ stem cells. Methods-We performed a 2-center, dose-escalation, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial (ISRCTN 16784092) of G-CSF (6 blocks of 1 to 10 g/kg SC, 1 or 5 daily doses) in 36 patients with recent ischemic stroke. Circulating CD34ϩ stem cells were measured by flow cytometry; blood counts and measures of safety and functional outcome were also monitored. All measures were made blinded to treatment. Results-Thirty-six patients, whose meanϮSD age was 76Ϯ8 years and of whom 50% were male, were recruited. G-CSF (5 days of 10 g/kg) increased CD34ϩ count in a dose-dependent manner, from 2.5 to 37.7 at day 5 (area under curve, Pϭ0.005). A dose-dependent rise in white cell count (PϽ0.001) was also seen. There was no difference between treatment groups in the number of patients with serious adverse events: G-CSF, 7/24 (29%) versus placebo 3/12 (25%), or in their dependence (modified Rankin Scale, median 4, interquartile range, 3 to 5) at 90 days. Conclusions-G-CSF is effective at mobilizing bone marrow CD34ϩ stem cells in patients with recent ischemic stroke.Administration is feasible and appears to be safe and well tolerated.
Two polymeric electron acceptors (PFPDI-2T and PFPDI-2FT) based on the fused perylene diimide (PDI) and bithiophene or difluorobithiophene units were synthesized via the Stille polymerization. Both polymers exhibit the strong absorption between 350 and 650 nm, which have the good absorption compensation with the low band gap conjugated polymer in polymer solar cells (PSCs). PFPDI-2T and PFPDI-2FT have the LUMO energy levels of around −4.12 to −4.15 eV, which are comparable with other PDI-based polymers and fullerene derivatives. All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) based on PFPDI-2T or PFPDI-2FT as the polymeric electron acceptor were fabricated with PTB7-Th as the polymeric electron donor. Power conversion efficiency of as high as 6.39% based on PFPDI-2T/PTB7-Th was achieved under the standard illumination of simulated sunlight (AM 1.5, 100 mW cm −2 ), which is significant higher than that of the all-PSC based on the nonfused PDI counterpart. The results demonstrate that the direct fusion of PDI unit is an effective design strategy to enhance the photovoltaic performances of all-PSCs.
Two novel acceptor–acceptor (A–A) type polymeric electron acceptors, PPDI-DTBT and PFPDI-DTBT, which contain perylene diimide (PDI) and fused PDI (FPDI) with electron deficient 4,7-dithienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTBT) units, respectively, are designed and synthesized to investigate their application in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.